


Dead flies and bits of fluff

by Pericardiaca



Category: Formula 1 RPF, Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: ((sorry val)), Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, Broom Racing, Esteban is the sweetest person on earth, Fluff, Hufflepuff!Esteban, Light Angst, M/M, Martin Brundle is a bully, Slytherin!Lance, also i totally didnt change a certain race outcome lol of course not, poor lance, some of the others are big gossips
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-07
Updated: 2017-07-07
Packaged: 2018-11-29 00:06:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,384
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11429061
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pericardiaca/pseuds/Pericardiaca
Summary: Lance's dad has bought him an expensive new broom... and everyone makes fun of him for very unsuccessfully taking part in Hogwarts' newly-established broom racing.A floofy Hogwarts AU that includes a crush, a broom race and a bit too much universe building. Lance' father will hear about this!!





	Dead flies and bits of fluff

**Author's Note:**

> salut :)  
> This entire thing is a bit out of the blue because a ~~Punching Plum~~ plot bunny hit me right in the face yesterday night and I actually wrote this entire thing during my two hour morning seminar today, lol.  
>  I know the pairing is a bit unusual but I think they're very fluffy and sweet! If there is a positive response to this... I might write a sequel with diff pairings since there are so many possibilities with all the drivers!  
> I hope this isn't too rushed or crammed with non-plotty universe-building. xD  
> Tell me what you think please, here or on [tumblr](https://lewizhamilton.tumblr.com)!  
> Happy reading! x

The usual chatter and noises of content breakfast-eating filled the Great Hall when the post owls arrived; and as usual the chatter increased immediately. 

A gigantic, light-brown eagle owl found its way to the Slytherin table, nearly hitting a first-year in the face with the big parcel it was carrying. "Oh, look who got mail from Daddy again!", shouted a Gryffindor called Martin Brundle and laughed, pointing at Lance, when the heavy load of the bird caused a stir.

Lance felt his face heat up and tried to make himself as small as possible when he caught the parcel, softly petting the owl. "Thank you, Trudeau", he mumbled and fed the bird a few owl treats.  
With a loud hoot the owl took off again, all business-like, leaving Lance with the unopened parcel and a lot more attention than he fancied. 

He wasn’t shy, but he hated it when everyone started to judge him because of what his dad sent him. It wasn’t his fault that his dad was the owner of the Quidditch League! However the other students regularly made fun of him for the wealth that came with that position, in various degrees between light teasing and downright bullying. 

"Come on, open it!", exclaimed Kevin, a fellow fourth-year Slytherin of Lance. "I wanna know what you got this time." 

Lance pulled a face and ripped the paper open, revealing the end of a broom. "Oh!" Suddenly excited, he unwrapped the entire thing and his face lit up. 

It was the new Williams Turbo! The most expensive broom on the market, polished mahagoni painted in a snow-white colour and decorated with several rows of sapphires and rubies. Not only did it look amazing, it was also super fast; one of the best racing brooms out there. Lance couldn’t wait to try it out. 

"Wow", commented Lewis, a seventh year Slytherin and Prefect who was always nice to Lance – and he was also the best broom racer of the school. 

Ever since this second sport discipline had been added to the school program the students had fallen in love with it and Lance’ dad had paid for the installation of the Parcours. It was a constantly changing broom racing track with difficult corners appearing out of nothing, loop-inducing obstacles and unbelievably fast straights. 

Every house had a racing team next to the traditional Quidditch team and Lance was lucky enough to be a part of it. Claire Williams, their Slytherin Head of House had told him several times that he was talented but he hadn’t managed to finish a race yet because of broom reliabilities. That was why his dad had gone all out – beginner’s racing brooms just didn’t cover it. Lance had complained to his dad and told him everything how the other students made fun of him and while he may have wished for a less flashy broom, he was glad that this was actually something where his dad had been able to help.

"It looks amazing", Lewis said and smiled. He patted Lance’ shoulder and sat down next to him. "I’m sure you’ll rock the race this weekend with that new broom!"

Kevin nodded, staring at the broom with big fascinated eyes. "Yeah, you will. Damn, Lance, this is so cool! I’ve never seen a Williams Turbo up close! Can I touch it?" 

 

#

 

Lance’ friends had fawned over the broom all morning and he was pretty proud of it by the time the first lesson came around. It was herbology with the Gryffindors and Professor Longbottom taught them how to properly cut off the fruits of the Punching Plum. Tending carefully to his plant, Lance followed the instructions meticulously, a happy smile on his face when Martin Brundle suddenly passed by his table. 

"You’ll crash that rich-boy broom of yours just like I crash this plum", Martin announced and squashed the fruit in his fist. With a mean grin, he then started to smear the residue onto the Punching Plum plant in front of Lance until it started to throw the name-giving punches in every direction, nearly hitting Lance in the face with one of its fruits. 

"Shut up!", Lance nearly yelled and all his frustrations about what the other students thought came back. 

"Well, he’s not wrong though", another Gryffindor called Sebastian added and confirmed Lance's worst worries. "Until we see results we’ll assume that you just got into the team on daddy’s money, Stroll." 

Kevin rolled his eyes, but he didn’t object and Lance felt even more hurt. It wasn’t the first time that Kevin hadn’t taken his side in discussions like this one and while only very few people were being assholes like Martin about it – even Kevin agreed with Sebastian, Lance was sure of it. 

Sometimes it felt like no one believed in him anyways and everyone just thought of him as a moving product of his dad’s money. 

"Just wait until the weekend." Lance tried to sound convincing but even to his own ears it sounded more feeble. "I’ll show you all how broom racing is really done." 

That made the group of people around him laugh, even Kevin and the other Slytherins. "You mean how being so bad that you can’t even lose a race because you don’t cross the finishing line is done", Martin scoffed with a snarl. 

Lance bit his lip and only Professor Longbottom ending the lesson stopped him from throwing his Punching Plum in Martin’s direction, upset with himself and the world in general. He'd have to talk to his father about this. 

 

#

 

Later, during Mixed Houses Study Hour under the stern eyes of Professor Vector, Lance was sitting with his study partner Marcus, a Hufflepuff in his year and Lewis’ Ravenclaw boyfriend Nico who was explaining some Transformation spell at the moment. Lance didn’t really listen though, they had both just smiled patronisingly when he had told them about the broom – for once because they had already known, the entire school knew at this point, proably even the headmaster portraits in McGonagall’s office knew! – but also because they didn’t believe it would help either. 

"You know, you can’t buy talent", someone said when they were walking past behind him. Not concentrating on his homework anyways, Lance started to eavesdrop: "He can have the best broom in the entire country and he still won’t finish a race if there isn’t some racing talent in him."

A quick glance over Lance's shoulder revealed that the person who was talking was actually Fernando, a Fifth-year Slytherin who was with the blonde, tall Ravenclaw Lance didn’t know the name of. They were inseparable and had according to rumours adopted a little Hufflepuff first year named Stoffel. Two girls trailed behind them but only the one Lance couldn't place seemed really interested in the gossip.

"That’s true", Blonde And Tall replied, ignoring the girls. "I can’t wait to see the Williams Turbo in motion though! I really hope Stroll won’t crush it before I get a nice view of it." 

Fernando’s laugh wasn’t even malicious, it was just a little gossip between friends, but Lance still felt his face heat up. 

One of the girls that were with them added: "All those jewels that are glued onto it make it slower anyways, right?" The second girl – Linda, she was in the Gryffindor racing team - rolled her eyes. "Brittny, the only even stupider thing you could have said would have been that the jewels would look better on you than on a broom." 

Lance couldn't hear the first girls reply, but he bit his lip and stared down at his homework, not seeing anything. It was a good looking broom! And it wasn't as if Lance had chosen it. Why would you settle for less than the best, given the option? Lance was sure that his dad had reviewed all the racing brooms for him.

He didn’t even realise that he sat there for long enough that Marcus and Nico moved on to pracitcal excersises and had gotten up when someone dropped into the seat next to him. 

"Don’t worry, they’re just jealous." 

Lance looked up and his breath hitched. 

It was Esteban, a Hufflepuff who was a year older and who was seriously the hottest guy in Hogwarts. He was tall and had fluffy dark hair and eyes you could lose yourself in and the most important thing – he didn’t talk badly about Lance. 

While they hadn’t had an extensive amount of conversations they had talked a few times, starting after The Incident where Lance had hit himself in the face with a bludger during the Quittich try-outs. He had tried to change his focus from racing to Quidditch since he didn't seem able to gain ground in broom racing even with his excellent flying abilities. 

Esteban had encouraged him to pursue the racing; that it was worth it if he had fun and that he should stop worrying about what everyone else was saying because he couldn’t change that he was his dad’s son. 

Esteban had even explained to him nicely that answering with _My father will hear about this!_ when he felt insulted didn’t help the situation. Usually, Lance would have felt exposed and hurt for critique like that but Esteban had smiled so genuinely at him that he just couldn’t get mad. He was really glad that he had put his trust in the cute Hufflepuff because now he had the biggest crush known to mankind on him. 

Lance tried to zoom back in to what Esteban was saying. "I’m rooting for you on Sunday!" Esteban beamed when he continued to babble: "Did you already fly a bit? You’ll have to get used to the new broom! If you want we can train together?"  
With a shy nod, Lance accepted the offer. He couldn’t wait to fly with Esteban. 

 

#

 

Later that week, Lance and Esteban met up next to the Parcours with their brooms. "Hey, Lance", Esteban smiled. "Ready to show me what you’ve got?" 

Lance blushed at the innuendo before he grinned. "Sure. Think you can catch me?" He sat on his broom and took off, laughing loudly when the air rushed past him and his hair got tousled by the wind. 

Esteban followed suit and they had a lot of fun playing catch for a while, before they flew into the Parcours to give their brooms a good work-out. A good while later they lied down on the grass sweaty and out of breath when they had flown the Parcours twice. 

"Thanks, Esteban", Lance said quietly. "I really appreciate that you take the time to... spend time with me. When you, y’know, could be with your friends instead." 

Esteban propped himself up on his elbows and looked at Lance. "But you are my friend! I like spending time with you. And I don’t like how everyone talks about you behind your back. You’re amazing and fun and talented and I can’t understand how everyone only sees a spoiled investor’s kid." 

"Because that’s what I am." Lance shrugged. "They’re right, I won’t win anything ever." 

"That’s not true!" Truly disgruntled on Lance’s behalf, Esteban sat up. "You have to focus on the goal! Don’t listen to the others, they’re jealous of your broom and just like to gossip. You’re fast, you’re just not as experienced as the others. Which, by the way, is totally alright considering you’re a fourth year. I don’t know why the entire school thinks that you have to be perfect at broom racing just because your dad sponsored the school Parcours." 

Lance bit his lip. "Do you really think I’m fast?", he asked hopefully. If Esteban believed in him... his Slytherin ambition came back in full swing. 

Esteban nodded immediately. "Of course you are. That’s not just the broom, trust me. Just wait for this Sunday’s race." 

 

#

 

The race was a bit of a mess. 

 

Lewis and Gryffindor’s prefect Sebastian had crashed into each other to the uproar of the spectators; Madame Hooch even had to stop the race at one point to get the Parcours cleaned up. Today’s version of it was really mean, but Lance managed to pull through. He had had a messy first third, a good second one – and now he was doing even better. He was in second place, he couldn’t believe it! 

In front of him was just a quiet Ravenclaw who had named his cat Turbo after the broom model Lance was flying, but Lance didn’t need to distract him with his shiny broom – he managed the overtake of the race in the last lap, just in front of the finishing line completely on his own! 

Only a split second secured his win, but Lance didn't care. He flew a looping, shouting his joy out and contently listening to the crowd cheering. 'I hope Esteban is proud', he thought, knowing that the Hufflepuff would be sitting somewhere in the crowd. Maybe they could meet after the celebrations tonight? He'd love to see him again. 

Lance high-fived the second-placed Ravenclaw since they were both good sports and slowly descended. Madame Hooch was saying something to him but Lance didn't pay attention, he was focused on a ball of Hufflepuff fluff, running straight at him. Was that really- 

"Lance!", yelled Esteban and grinned brightly, throwing himself at Lance and hugging him tightly. "I'm so proud! You did amazing!" 

Lance could feel his still accelerated heart beat picking up even more and for a moment he was unsure what to do. He looked up into Esteban's happy face and then, with a sudden rush of nearly Gryffindor-esque daring, he kissed him. 

At first Esteban seemed too shocked to reciprocate and Lance thought he had just messed everything up, but then he made a low content noise and took Lance' face in his hands, slowly kissing him back.  
They were both way too focused on each other to hear how the cheers of the crowd turned into wolf whistles, but when they parted and realised where they were Lance blushed and Esteban giggled. He was smiling so hard, this was the best day in his life. Holding Esteban's hand tightly he waved to the crowd, exhausted and proud and so, so happy.

He couldn't wait to let his father hear all about it. 

~Fin~


End file.
